All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall

All of the Above Reviews

• 
  Matthew Winner

  YES (but not for grades 4-6) for black-eyed susan.
  NO for our school library.
  
  While this book was fantastic, I don't think it's a good fit for students in grades 4-6. Some of the issues it deals with would be lost in their lack of understanding while others are just not appropriate for their age level (though I realize this opinion can be challenged).
  
  All of the Above retells an historic record set by the students of Alexander Hamilton School, an urban middle school in Cleveland Ohio. A math teacher, disappointed by his students failing grades and apparent lack of interest in the class, challenges his students to break a record set in California for a record-breaking tetrahedron (comprised of tetrahedrons, pyramids made of four equilateral triangles).
  
  The story is told through the voice of four African American students and a handful of adults (the story progresses as each character forwards the plot, never telling two chapters back-to-back). The four children each carry their own personal baggage. One girl desperately wants to get into college despite feeling the cards are stacked against her. Another has been passed from foster home to foster home and is currently under the care of a neglectful foster. A boy works at his father's barbecue stand but dreams of doing anything different. Another, James, struggles under the criticism and accusations of his whole school thanks to a bad reputation and a worse older brother who abuses drugs, has a felony record, and a gang of friends who beat up on James.
  
  The story is excellent and very well-written. The right audience will greatly appreciate it, I know I did!
• 
  Kate

  This book was something you can pick up and set down 3 days later! The characters were so realistic and interesting that it just pulls you in. A truly unusually great story is hard to pass by, so pick up this book and get comfortable!
• 
  Grace

  This book is based on a true story about four kids living in the inner city. One lives with his uncle, and brother who is in a "gang." Another lives with her foster parent who is out all night long with her boyfriend. The 3rd lives with his dad who owns a bbq restaurant, and the last lives with her mom and aunt. In math class, one day nobody is paying any attention, and the teacher gets really mad. He decides that the class should try to beat the world record of the largest tetrahedron ever. He tells some of the students they need to come if they want any math credit. A few other kids come just for something to do. The four keep working on it all year after school until somebody rips it all down, they are all devastated. Find out hat happens in this AMAZING story!
• 
  Josephine Sorrell

  
  The story based on true events is based on actual events. Set in a run down middle school in a depressed section of Cleveland, Ohio. As a result, the students have zero motivation.
  
  Frustrated by the kids' lack of enthusiasm, math teacher Mr. Collins hatches a plan based in desperation. He's heard about a school in California that broke the record for the largest tetrahedron ever constructed. He suggests to his students to try and break that record. His after-school club for constructing the tetrahedron is met with skepticism by some students, with cautious enthusiasm or outright rejection by others.
  
  The four students who become regulars in Collins's after-school group all have their own reasons for participating --- from James, who chooses between attending math club and failing math class, to Sharice, who sees the club as an inviting alternative to another lonely afternoon in the public library. There's also Rhondell, who has big plans to be the first person in her family to attend college, and Marcel, whose after-school job at his dad's barbecue joint threatens his ongoing participation in the project.
  
  I really enjoyed the book and wonder how much was based on fact. Sone things seemed too good to be true.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Cormac

  This book is about some inter city kids in Cleveland Ohio who are trying to build the worlds largest tetrehedron. They form an after school math club to start building it. The group of James, Marcel Rhondell, Sharice and their teacher Mr. Collins. James at the beginning is very reluctant to help, but eventually he comes around. But when something happens they have to decide if they even want to continue building it, and a very unlikely person keeps them going. They work all the way through the summer, but do they finish?
  My favorite part of the book is when the store clerk has James sign the newspaper for when James i famous. I really liked this part because it is at a point where James has changed into a happier person. i start to like James a lot more and i think it makes him happier
  Overall i thought the book was okay. Its plot was very predictable, but the characters do develope really well. It was kind of boring at times and it didn't really ever have a time where I really wanted to keep reading. It didn't really ever have a moment that I didn't see coming. Overall it was a decent book, but I cant ay id recommend it.
  
• 
  Ethan

  I would rate this book a three out of five stars. This book was very predictable. You could easily tell what was going to happen next. "All of the Above" by Shelley Pearsall was about four inner city kids that all had a different backstory, and joined a math club taught by teacher Mr. Collins. This math club was created to build the largest tetrahedron ever made and get into the world record books.
  The four main characters were named Rhondell, Sharice, James Harris III, and Marcel. Rhondell was the smart one who wanted to be quiet, Sharice was the shy one, James was the tough one but eventually blossomed into a totally different person, and Marcel is the energetic one who wants to be a movie star or a comedian.
  Overall this book was an okay book. It was very predictable, and only kept you reading by hinges. I would not recommend this book to people who want a good read, but to people who like realistic fiction and math stories.
  
• 
  Megan

  "...You'll finally come to a dead end. That's where our school sits. We know there's a lot of people out there who think our school is a dead end. And that all the kids inside it are dead ends, too... But they've got it all wrong... Just you wait and see..."
  
  All of the Above was an inspirational story about 4 inner-city students and their teacher who dream of making the world's largest tetrahedron. Although there were parts of this book that were boring and almost annoying, altogether this book was a nice, quick read. It was short, and Shelley Pearsall developed the characters, but not to an extent that I could hate and/or be annoyed with them. I don't know a perfect word for this story, but I'd most likely use one of Rhondell's college words, "inspirational". I'd also use "cute", but that's only four letters, and it doesn't sound right, however true it may be.
• 
  Amy

  Reminds me of
  Because of Mr. Terupt for a slightly older audience. We have the four kids who are overturning society's expectations, the teacher (who, for once does NOT come across as a Jesus-y inspiring perfect figure), and the ambitious math project, which, honestly, seemed of questionable educational value.
  
  This book felt a little too afterschool special to me and all the characters sounded the same. But I liked it, and I think students will too, particularly students who are still grappling with inferring deeper meanings into texts. I think they'll catch on the themes of overcoming obstacles, defying stereotypes, and the importance of relationships.
• 
  Elena

  I was surprised by how much I liked this. I'm used to YA novels about struggling characters containing sappy and contrived dialogue, but this story flowed naturally. The author was obviously trying to show the characters in an inspirational light, but their changes seemed plausible.
• 
  Arya

  Reminded me of Because of Mr. Terupt. This book, like Because of Mr. Terupt, is about a group of students and their teacher, and both are narrated by many different people. Each person has a very different voice, and, in my opinion, it takes a huge amount of skill to be able to do that.
• 
  Erin Logan

  An eclectic group of urban middle schoolers attempt to build the world's largest tetrahedron, a challenge presented by their math teacher. This was a fast, catchy read, and I cannot wait to use It for Read It Forward this spring.
• 
  Jean

  This book is about math...and so much more. I hate math. I loved this book. Go figure!
• 
  Eric Sutton

  I thought this story - a novel, but it's based on a true story - would focus more on math, but at its heart it's a story about humanity. I'm always a bit reticent of the urban underdog narrative, especially when a boring white teacher, in this case Mr. Collins, somehow transforms his students merely by presenting a contest to enter. What bothers me, I think, is then how the narrative shifts focus to the potential this after-school club harnesses in its members while leaving behind the everyday drudgery of Collins' class, which no doubt still exists because, at least in my experience, teachers do not - whether through obstinacy, lack of time or resources, or sheer mental fatigue - change their teaching practices overnight. So there's this whole other side of the story not being told, but that's not the point. No one wants to read about boring math class; they do, however, want to hear about the tetrahedron project (If you can't already tell, I have a teacher bias toward novels about the teaching profession). Here enters our cast of characters - the troublemaker, the brainiac, the misunderstood, the charmer. They could be The Breakfast Club. In all seriousness, though, it's a solid read. Each character has a dynamic arc, there is a major hurdle to overcome, and by the end they are all changed people. Critiques: I thought the BBQ recipes were a bit unnecessary, a YA ploy, and I do wish we were given more scenes of the team members actually learning the math behind their project instead of gluing small tetrahedrons together, but the project functions as a plot device to bring the characters together and present them with an opportunity for growth. Alas, this is no Stand and Deliver. Regardless, the book holds up. I would recommend it for younger, more reluctant readers. The story moves quickly, is steeped in reality, and has plenty of pivotal moments to sustain reading.
• 
  Traci

  First, I did NOT read the ebook. I merely chose it because it has the cover art that my copy has, and I really don't have the time to add another edition. Yep, a bit lazy on my part, but oh well.
  
  Second, I read this because our school system has chosen it for the Middle School Battle of the Books. I'm slowly but surely making my way through those titles, and this looked interesting.
  
  Third, it's a pretty good read! And now I'm off to copy the tetrahedron template...as I'm wanting to try my own hand at building one. And wondering if this might be an interesting teen program idea for the library. Hm...
  
  (ps - an easy read, too, as it took me about 2 hours to finish)
• 
  Tami

  I have recently become a HUGE fan of this author. She writes everything from amazing historical fiction to contemporary fiction, to stories based on current, real-life events. I first became aware of her when her book ALL OF THE ABOVE showed up on the Maud Hart Lovelace Award Nominee list for 2010-11 in Division II (5th -7th grade).
  
  If you are a middle school or young adult reader, or you know one, these books are excellent. ALL OF THE ABOVE is based on the true story of a middle school class in Ohio trying to break the world record by building the largest freestanding paper tetrahedron. The four distinct voices of the narrators are genuine and engaging. Regardless of where you live or who you are each reader will find feelings and perceptions with which to identify. By the same token, each reader will also then use those similarities to really experience the differences among the characters in the book as well. Personally, this type of layered reading experience within a story is one of the things that makes a book precious to me.
  
  Having read ALL OF THE ABOVE and enjoyed it so thoroughly, I went looking for more of Ms. Pearsall’s work. I also visited her website, which is quite informative and interesting to explore.
  
  Her first novel was TROUBLE DON’T LAST, which I just finished. It tells the story of Samuel, an 11yr old boy born into slavery in Kentucky. He never knew his mother, as she was sold before he could walk. One night Harrison, the old man who has taken care of him, wakes Samuel and takes him along as they run toward freedom in Canada. The viewpoint throughout the story is Samuel’s. I was drawn into the story by Samuel’s very clear, genuine voice. I could feel his fear, and his horror, his wonder and his sadness amidst deplorable circumstances. Shelley Pearsall says that she felt much had been written about the Underground Railroad, but there were few personal accounts and she tried to capture that in this story. In my opinion she succeeded.
  
  The next novel of Ms. Pearsall’s I read this summer was ALL SHOOK UP. This is set in the present. The main character is a 7th Grade boy whose parents are already divorced at the beginning of the story. His maternal grandmother falls in her home in Florida and his mother has to relocate there for a few months to help her mother with her recovery. Josh is sent to live with his dad in Chicago.
  
  Upon arriving in Chicago Josh discovers that the father who had always worked as a shoe salesman has lost his job and is now working as an Elvis Presley impersonator. Josh is mortified by this information. He even goes so far as to pick up a job application from a local video store for his dad so he can have a “real” job again. The really moving part about this novel is the honesty with which Josh speaks. We all have feelings of anger and resentment and embarrassment connected at times with our parents. It’s hard to admit those things to ourselves. We see in Josh’s gradual realization of the discrepancy between his perceptions and his father’s our own understanding of those feelings and thoughts that can otherwise fester. When Josh decides to manipulate circumstances, sacrificing his father’s goals for his own he discovers that the consequences are far-reaching in ways he never anticipated. And he discovers how to find his way back from some questionable decisions. It is a remarkable book that adds to my admiration for Shelley Pearsall and her work.
  
  The other work by Ms. Pearsall that I have read this past month is CROOKED RIVER. This is historical fiction. The story takes place in 1812. A white trapper is murdered and a Chippewa man is accused of the crime. The narrator is a young girl whose father is resposible for taking the young Chippewa prisoner and chaining him in their attic until his “trial.” Again, there are many details within the story that are based on actual individuals and circumstances although all the specifics of the main characters are fictional. Like all her other work, this story came alive right off the pages for me.
  
  This book in particular poses a dilemma for young Rebecca: (1)she knows her father is a cruel individual; (2) she is afraid of him–and of doing anything against his wishes; (3) she knows that she has always been taught that “Indians” are ‘savages; then she begins to really observe the young man in her attic, and she communicates with another man who believes Indians (in this case, Native American Chippewa) are the same as settlers like himself–and like Rebecca. Now she must decide on her own if she must act and how she must act.
  
  Although Rebecca’s dilemma is much more severe than those we face on a daily basis, doing what we believe is right in the face of possible physical, mental, emotional, or financial consequences is no less a hallmark of our character. Rebecca’s dilemma and decision provide an excellent springboard for discussion about majority rule, mob mentality, individuality vs. accepted viewpoints, even personal values. It also allows each reader the opportunity to look inside herself at what qualities Rebecca possesses that I would like to emulate and in what ways can I make sure my actions support what I believe about people.
  
  In conclusion, Shelley Pearsall has been my favorite author discovery this year (last year it was Barbara O’Connor). I highly recommend her books and encourage other readers to seek them out! You will not be sorry!
  
• 
  Richie Partington

  22 August 2006 ALL OF THE ABOVE by Shelley Pearsall, Little Brown, September 2006, ISBN: 0-316-11524-X
  
  Sharice:
  "As we get closer to finishing, I start having dreams about what's gonna happen when we do. In most of my dreams, there is this big flash of light when we finish the tetrahedron and our school isn't a crumbling, peeling-paint building anymore. It's rainbow colored. (I know this sounds kinda weird.) And our giant pyramid sits on top of the school roof shooting out colors all over the neighborhood, like spotlights. Houses turn shades of red, and orange, and blue. And people stop their cars and roll down their windows to take pictures of the sight." That their one-of-a-kind tetrahedron building project gets off the ground at all is astounding in itself.
  
  ALL OF THE ABOVE is a tale of four inner city public school kids -- none of whom are initially friends -- and their math teacher. The teacher, Mr. Collins, acknowledges that he was frustrated with his teaching, his school, his students, and himself when he impulsively announced his brainstorm: a plan to have students come together in an extracurricular math club for the purpose of building a stage seven Sierpinski tetrahedron.
  
  "What the heck is a stage seven Sierpinski tetrahedron?" you might (or might not) be tempted to ask. Well, as I learned, thanks to Rhondell, the member of the student quartet with private dreams of one day attending college, it is a structure composed of 16,384 little tetrahedrons which, in turn, are three dimensional geometric shapes that have four faces, each of which is an equilateral triangle.
  
  And to understand what about this particular book caught my eye -- a book that was formerly to be found amidst my stage seven mountain of review copies -- is to get a sense of my life-long affinity with numbers and mathematical concepts. For front and center on the book's cover is that key number 16,384, a number I instantly recognized as being part of my habitual childhood recitation of the exponents of 2. You know, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384...
  
  Oh...you didn't walk around middle school with those sort of things streaming through your head? Well, regardless, readers will be intrigued by the four urban students (and the teacher) who are all facing personal challenges inside and outside of school:
  
  James Harris III:
  
  "I stare at the window behind Collins and think about how good it would feel to jump out that window and send all that glass flying into the air like one of those jagged comic book pictures with the word 'CRASH' written above it. Get out of school, Collins' class, all the other dumb teacher's classes -- and never come back."
  
  Marcel:
  
  "Ain't spending the rest of my life working at Willy Q's Barbecue. Saying sweet things to customers who don't deserve sweet. Smiling like I care about selling rib bones and chicken wings and pig meat.
  "Ain't joining the Army either, like my daddy thinks. Won't salute nobody. Least of all, him."
  
  Sharice:
  
  "You see, foster non-parent #5 (Jolynn) doesn't allow anybody at home when she isn't there and since she isn't there most of the time, I'm not allowed to be there either. Which is why I mostly end up sitting in the blue plastic library chairs, or in the mall food court, or riding around on the city bus (or wherever I can find a seat without too many weirdos or drunks around)."
  
  Rhondell:
  
  "Sometimes I imagine college as a big wooden door where you have to knock and say the right password to get in. Only people who know big words like metamorphosis and epiphany are allowed inside. So, I think I try to save all the words I can because maybe, deep down, I believe they will somehow get me inside college without money or luck.
  "But around here if you talk and act like you have dreams, or as if you think you are better than everybody else, it only causes trouble. So, I keep most of my college words locked up in my head, and I try to make it through each day by saying as few words as possible. 'She's quiet' is the way most people describe me, and I figure being quiet is just fine because it means you won't be bothered."
  
  ALL OF THE ABOVE vaguely reminds me of The Breakfast Club. In this case you meet these four random students who just all happen to be in the same math class when their frustrated math teacher decides to launch a seriously wacked math project and all four kids wittingly or unwittingly find themselves captive to the process. And me, the former math team member, found myself right there with them.
  
  So join in. Grab yourself a stack of colored paper, some scissors, a glue gun, some munchies, and partake in the Tetrahedron Club.
  
  Richie Partington, MLIS
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• 
  Meagan Schneller

  All of the Above by Shelly Pearsell was a fun book to read. All of the Above was very entertaining, and informative. This book was about a group of seventh graders that go to Washington Middle School in Cleveland OH. These seventh graders, Marcel, James Harris, Rhondell, and Sharice were originally just in the math club because they had nothing better to do. All these children end up caring a lot about the tetrahedron project they were working on and won the award for the largest Tetrahedron ever created. This enormous tetrahedron had 16,384 tetrahedrons all glued together.
  This was a heartwarming story that leaves you in a motivational mood.
  
  There were many great parts of All of the above that I loved. If I had to choose a favorite part of this story it would be when James Harris the Third becomes president and really takes a big role in the making and management of the large tetrahedron. James had come from a very difficult family that never modivated him to do anything and when he became such a responsible young man with detication I think it was a great charachter change. This reminded me that no matter what kind of back round you come from you can always do something important with your life and become your own person.
  
  As much as I enjoyed reading this book, I would not recommend it for someone my age again. This book has large plot wholes that leave you guessing. some examples are that they never exslpain the process of building the tetrahedron nd they never go into detail about main charachters family and it leaves you wanting to know more at many times. I give this book a 3/5 because although it had a good message and great story line it was not challenging and at times, poorly written.